World Trade Center document custody notice, Law Department

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Christine Todd Whitman’s “Safe” Assurance

When EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman announced to New Yorkers, shortly after the September 11*^ terrorist attacks, that their . .air is safe to breathe,” she misled the public because the EPA did not have the proper information to make such an assurance. Ms. Whitman’s statement was fust made in written form on September 18, 200P (though she had been quoted as early as September 14,200P), before there was a single test of indoor air quality conducted by any governmental entity.

In response to criticism on this point, the EPA countered that Ms. Whitman’s statement was made on the basis of outdoor air tests only. [It should be noted that the EPA had not even intended to do testing of outdoor air in residential areas until the Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force (GZTF) requested that it do so in a memo dated September 21,2001, in which it also requested indoor air testing.’] On January 13, 2002, an EPA Region n spokesperson stated, “That’s [indoor air testing] not our job and we have no policies or procedures for doing that type of testing.”* On January 17, EPA Region n issued a statement saying, “.. .EPA has lead [sic] the effort to monitor the outdoor environment while the city of New York has taken the lead regarding the reoccupancy of buildings.”’ Nevertheless, indoor air quality data did not even exi^t at the time of Ms. Whitman’s September 18 statement.

To this day there have only been two small rounds of governmentally conducted or commissioned tests of indoor air quality in Lower Manhattan post 9/11 - and neither can be used as evidence to support the statement that indoor air is “safe.” The first study, commissioned by the Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force (GZTF) on September 18, 2001 found elevated levels of hazardous materials in a number of apartments that had not been cleaned or professionally remediated, and some that had been cleaned or professionally remediated.® The second study, conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), at the request of New York City Department of Health (NYC DOH) in November and December 2001, is still not completed. According to a NYC DOH press release and a web site to which the release refers, the ' EPA Press Release, “Whitman Details Ongoing Agency Efforts to Monitor Disaster Sites, Contribute to Cleanup Effort,” September iS"', 2001. Ms Whitman’s full statement is as follows: “We are very encouraged that the results for our monitoring air quality and drinking water conditions in both New York and near the Pentagon show that the public in these areas is not being exposed to excessive levels of asbestos or other harmful substances. Given the scope of the tragedy from last week, I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, DC, that their air is safe to breath[sic] and their water is safe to drink.” This sentiment has been echoed repeatedly by EPA spokespeople and other governmental agencies, and, to this day, has been used as the definitive government comment on Lower Manhattan air quality post- 9/11. Two days later, Ms. Whitman added in a press release, “New Yorkers. . .need not be concerned about environmental issues as they return to their homes and workplaces.” (September 21 2001) ’ Ferraro, Susan, “EPA Chief Says Water, Air are Safe,” New York Daily News, September 14,2001. ’ Ground Zero Elected Officials Task Force (Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Chair) “Memorandum #4,” September 21, 2001. Schneider, Andrew, “NY Officials Underestimate Danger,” St Louis Post Dispatch, January 13,2002. ’ EPA Region n Press Release, “EPA Statement,” January 17,2002. * Chatfield, Eric J. Ph.D) and Kominshy, John R. (M.Sc., CM, CSP, CHMM), “Summary Report; Characterization of Particulate Found in Apartments After Destruction of the World Trade Center,” requested by the ‘Ground Zero’ Elected Officials Task Force, October 12,2001.

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